Microstructure, mechanical properties and in vitro degradation properties of Zn Fe alloys

In recent years, degradable Zn alloys have received wide attention as new biomedical materials. This paper mainly studied the microstructure, mechanical properties and in vitro degradation properties of Zn-xFe (x = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 wt%) alloys which prepared by stirring casting method. The results showed that the FeZn13 phase was produced in ZnFe alloys. The FeZn13 phase distributed in the matrix and played the role of grain refinement and second phase strengthening, which improved the hardness and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of ZnFe alloys. Compared with pure Zn, the hardness and UTS of the Zn-1.5Fe alloy increased by 156.9% and 86.6% respectively, indicating that the mechanical properties of ZnFe alloys were improved significantly. With the increase of Fe content, the self-corrosion potential of ZnFe alloys decreased and the self-corrosion current increased, which means that the degradation rate was accelerated. The immersion test showed that the degradation rate of Zn2Fe was increased by 62.0% compared with that of pure Zn. Moreover, the degradation rate was higher at the initial stage of the immersion test than that of the later stage.